Shanxi 2010 Coal Output To Rise Up To 30%
09 March 2010
People’s Daily. Coal output from China’s Shanxi Province, the country’s largest coal producer, is expected to rise up by up to 30% in 2010 from 2009 levels, according to Zhang Baoshun, the Party secretary of the province.
The province has received order exceeding 700 million tons, and expects to produce up to 800 million tons this year, he said. Shanxi produced 615 million tons of coal in 2009, about 20% of China’s total.
This year China is targeting national coal output of 3.15 billion tons, a 3.3 percent increase, the country’s economic planning ministry, the National Development and Reform Commission, said in its annual economic plan Friday. That growth rate is slower than most analysts’ demand forecasts and the NDRC’s expectation that electricity output, most of which is coal-powered, will rise 6.6 percent this year.
Shanxi launched a consolidation push in the coal industry last year during the economic slowdown, causing its annual coal output to fall about 5 percent. The Shanxi consolidation drive, which aimed to close small, dangerous and inefficient mines, was a major factor in turning China into a net importer of coal last year, with a tripling of import volumes, mostly from Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam.
This is very important information.
China will burn 3.15 billion tons of coal in 2010 or about 3 times the production of coal in the USA. 1) Burning 1 ton of coal produces 2.86 tons of CO2. 2) The global CO2 emissions in 2008 are about 30 billion tones (3) so China’s burning of coal now make up for 30% =((2.86*3.15)/30) of the global CO2 pollution! On top China also burns 8 million barrels of oil per day as well as natural gas. China is therefore now approaching almost 40% of the global CO2 pollution. This is insane.
Unless China does something radically to reduce their CO2 reductions a climate disaster of epic proportions will be a reality sometime during this century. A lot of things are made in China. Let’s hope the history of man will not end with a “Made in China” global warming disaster.
US coal production 1 billion ton
1 ton coal = 2.86 ton of CO2
Global CO2 pollution 30 billion ton
Posted by: Account Deleted | 09 March 2010 at 03:12 AM
“Made in China” global warming disaster
There are more sides to this story. It is abundantly clear that China is now the largest CO2 emitter in the world and does not appear to have any intention of doing something about it. That's the dark side.
Otoh, the per capita emissions are still lower than the US and Europe. And from a historical perspective, the current point of 387 ppm is still mostly our (=the western world) responsibility.
It is easy to condemn the Chinese, but we've had our share of the fossil pie and they're sure gonna have theirs.
And as long as the Chinese aren't showing any sign of reducing CO2 emissions, the rest of the world will not be motivated to do their share.
When will humanity get out of this stalemate? Probably when it's too late.
Posted by: Arne | 09 March 2010 at 06:57 AM
Anne it is difficult to disagree with you about almost anything you post and yes the West is also responsible especially for increasing the atmospheric CO2 from a level of 284 ppmv in 1832 to 387 ppmv in 2009. However, China will be responsible for most of the increase in the coming years where we are about to surge past 400 ppmv that many climate scientists think is the level that will trigger dangerously fast climate changes.
The problem is that China is still a poor country with a very large potential to continue to grow at 10% per year for many years ahead. In all likelihood the Chinese economy will be 4 times bigger in 2025 than it is today and bigger than the US economy. If they also increase their coal burning at that rate we will be way past 400 ppmv in 2025. The planet is in real peril for something apocalyptic. At the very least the West needs to talk CO2 emissions with the Chinese at every meeting we have with them. However, there is also hope that things will not get out of control. Currently China is doubling installations of wind power every year and actually installed 13GW in 2009. This made China the world’s largest market for wind power in 2009. If they keep doubling installations until they reach 200 GW or so per year then China will not need to produce electricity from coal at all and then the problem is solved. I hope this is exactly what Beijing has in mind.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 10 March 2010 at 01:55 AM
Compared to the West, China emits very low doses of CO2 per capita. Compared to the west the 'average' Chinese is extremely poor. The West is by far most responsible for the actual high CO2 level.
If we (=the West) would spend a few percentages of our GDP on development and implementation of green technologies, that would account for a trillion euros a year.
This would not be money that is realy lost (like what would happen if China would impede its development because of CO2 reasons), but it would be a trillion euros invested in our own economy.
As long as we prefer to spend this small amount of our surplus money on popular wasting programs instead of investing it to solve the problem we created, don't be surprised China will not be prepared to solve it.
Posted by: Alain | 10 March 2010 at 11:10 AM